Cruel To Be Kind
by Mora Tempus
Summary: Yaoi. Even Sephiroth will do anything to save the one he loves. SZ, HS


Disclaimer: Square Enix owns all...wish i owned Square...

Summary: Even Sephiroth will do anything to save one he loves

warnings: light yaoi, dont like it, sod off.

pairings: Seph/Zack, Hojo/Seph

* * *

"I will not," an outraged voice protested, but it was soon followed by a grating laugh.

"Of course you will," Hojo corrected, "And you know you will, unless you want those that you have allowed to become friends volunteered as some of my latest experiments." He gave a devious smirk, knowing that there would be no refusal if his friends were threatened.

Sephiroth hung his head in defeat, not wanting to see either Zack or Cloud hurt because of him, "Very well," he submitted, closing his eyes, _I'm sorry Zack, please don't hate me for this,_ he thought to his lover, hoping that if the younger man found out, he would forgive him.

"Now," the insanely grinning scientist, eying the General, "Strip."

The elite sighed heavily and slowly started taking off his clothes, trying to delay the inevitable.

"Too slow," Hojo commented from where he was standing and moved to Sephiroth and started taking the rest of his clothes off faster. Sephiroth's cheeks burned with shame as he was standing naked in front of the man he hated most, and yet, for all the power and strength he had, he could not take care of this big problem that was Shinra's head scientist. "Such a beautiful body," Hojo murmured as he circled the younger man. Sephiroth kept his gaze to the floor, closing his eyes, trying to find some place in his mind that would take him from his current situation.

"_Yo Seph," Zack called as he entered the General's office, "Still workin?"_

_Sephiroth sighed, "I'm always working Zachary," he replied wearily._

_Zack grinned and perched on the desk in front of Sephiroth and on top of the reports he had been looking through, "That's my point," he leaned forward and kissed the silver haired man softly, and at not being thrown across the room, he slid from the desk into the elite's lap, "You need some time off, no one should work like this," he started kissing and gently biting up the General's neck, "What do you think about skipping out of here for a few hours hm?" he whispered into his ear, "Just disappearing to somewhere quiet, you and me, not having to worry about work, maybe the place will fall apart without you around, isn't that a nice thought?" he smirked faint._

"_Zack…" Sephiroth started but was silenced with another kiss, deeper this time as Zack's hand went into the silver locks, bringing their heads closer together, Zack's tongue teasing his own._

_When they pulled back, their breaths mingling in soft pants, Zack grinned to him soft, shifting in the older man's lap, "I think someone likes the idea more than he admits."_

"_All these reports…" _

"_They can wait," Zack insisted, "You deserve to have some time off, they have you working far too hard," he licked over the man's jaw and felt him shudder slightly beneath him and smirked, repeating the trail a few more times, "Come on Seph," he murmured softly, "Just a few small hours to ourselves, not too much to ask is it?"_

_Sephiroth finally nodded in agreement, "Alright."_

"_Great," Zack exclaimed, "I already have everything sorted for us, it wont take us long to get there…" he stood and turned to see Hojo standing in the doorway. The way Sephiroth tensed behind him, made him realise he hadn't seen the scientist enter either._

Sephiroth was brought from his reverie, feeling a sharp pain across his body, the scent of charring flesh reaching his nose as he looked down wincing a little at the stabs of pain; he glared at Hojo, who merely smirked.

"You are mine Sephiroth," he dug his fingers into the newly branded flesh, making the younger man crumple away from the malicious touch; Hojo backhanded him hard, sending his already unsteady feet from beneath him.

"Stay away from me," Sephiroth hissed as he stood, putting all the hatred he possessed behind his deathly glare that would have made any sane man run.

The scientist surged forward pinning the SOLDIER against a wall, with more strength than he looked like he possessed, "You _are_ mine boy, and I will not let you forget it."

Sephiroth struggled to throw the other man off and he bent down to pick up his discarded clothes but was thrown to the floor, pinned again, this time by sharp implements through his skin, stuck to the floor. "Let me go," he demanded wincing as he struggled to get himself off the tools, but they only dug into him deeper; it did not help matters when he felt Hojo's weight settle on his back, ensuring he was not going anywhere. He shivered hearing a rustle of clothing, knowing what was coming. The elite winced at the initial penetration as his unprepared ass was slightly torn; Sephiroth close his eyes tight again, wanting to try and loose himself in pleasurable memories, but the pain and the soft grunts from behind kept bringing him back to reality.

"You…are…mine…" Hojo grunted, keeping him forcefully pressed down as he fucked him.

"I hate you," Sephiroth replied coldly, through gritted teeth as he felt something warm trickle down the back of his thigh.

"You my dear boy," He heard Hojo say, "Are going to go back up to that SOLDIER…Zachary is it? And end whatever relationship it is you think you had with him."

"No," Sephiroth growled, "I will not…"

Hojo hit him hard, "I think we have already established that you belong to me, and you will do as I say." He let Sephiroth up, "Get dressed, I will show you exactly what happens to those who interfere with persons who belong to me."

The Elite glared at him, all too happy to be dressed again, but did not like where this was going, so he put his clothes on as fast as he could, not even getting a chance to clean up, making him feel even dirtier than he did before, and he followed Hojo out to an awaiting helicopter.

* * *

it was a few hours later when the two arrived in the sleepy town of Nibelheim; Sephiroth looked around to see everyone hiding inside, but staring out of the window, non daring to come outside, seeing the Great General Sephiroth wandering the street.

"This way," Hojo barked; the silver haired man gave his back a contemptuous glare, following slowly, anything to try and annoy the man for a few minutes, they stopped at the gate of the dilapidated looking mansion, "Just so you know," Hojo started, "If anything…unfortunate was to happen to me, my people have their orders to bring that Zack in and…play with him. That little Cloud boy too."

"Leave them alone," Sephiroth hissed.

"Well that all depends on you now doesn't it?" The older man smirked and walked inside. Sephiroth sighed, a momentarily defeated look came over him; Zack was not safe, not even on a different continent, he knew Hojo was serious in his threats, if he let something happen to the man, Zack would be even worse off. He hated feeling so helpless…

"Sephiroth," He groaned hearing Hojo call him inside.

'_I will find a way to stop you Hojo,_' he promised in his mind, '_I will kill you without any harm coming to my friends._' He silently walked inside.

"You really should try and keep up boy," Hojo commented when the younger man finally joined him, "Would be terrible if something that was lurking around here were to get hold of you."

"I'm sure it would," Sephiroth commented sarcastically, muttering under his breath, "Would certainly be one less problem for you." He followed, otherwise silently up the creaky stairs to a small room. "So what is it we are here for?" he asked seeing nothing of interest in the room.

The scientist eyed him impatiently, "You will see when we get there," he opened up a secret door in a stone wall and continued down the spiral staircase to the basement. Sephiroth sighed softly, and followed, careful of the rotting steps which looked about to break. He had a wonderful image of finding Hojo's body contorted and twitching below, after a few steps fell from under his feet. The elite was utterly disappointed to see the man waiting for him at the bottom, all in one piece. They continued halfway down the passage until they reached a door half way down.

Hojo unlocked the creaky door to reveal a room full of coffins, most of which had no lids on, but there was one large on in the centre of the room; "This is what happens when someone gets in the way of my things." Hojo commented, lifting the lid to reveal a man, who looked to be just sleeping, not dead. "I actually killed him; it was my assistant that brought him back to life to use as an experiment."

"He is alive?" Sephiroth asked, reaching into the coffin, touching the pale flawless face, amazed that the skin was quite warm.

Hojo nodded, "Yes, in a sense, he has been in there for 25 years, give or take. In an eternal tormented sleep. Wouldn't it be such a shame if something similar were to happen to Zack?"

Sephiroth stared at the sleeping black haired man, momentarily getting a glimpse of Zack being in a similar position.

"You wouldn't want anything like this to happen to a certain recruit, or more importantly, a SOLDIER, would you?" Hojo moved around the coffin, realising all too late that the man inside bolted up, his golden clawed hand around his throat tight.

"No," Sephiroth surged forward pulling the man off Hojo, sending the scientist flying into a wall, unconscious.

"Out of my way," the man hissed in a dark inhuman voice, "I will kill him."

Sephiroth stood in his path, "I cannot allow that," he shook his head, "As much as I would love to be part of his demise, I cannot."

"If you do not wish to be with him, why stand in my way?"

"If I don't, one I love will become part of a new experiment," Sephiroth sighed, "He came here to show me what could happen to him, if he got in the way," he eyed the man in red, "I cannot allow you to escape either, so make it look like we had to fight."

"What?" The man looked at him curiously, "You would allow me to hurt you without fighting back?"

"I deserve it," Sephiroth looked away, "For allowing this to happen."

The man nodded slightly, understanding where he was coming from, "Very well, but I will kill him eventually, whether you will be standing in my way or not," He raised his clawed hand and swiped it across the silver haired man's face, scratching him deeply, and another cutting through his leather clothes deep into the skin of his stomach.

Sephiroth crumpled to his knees, holding the wound, realising that he had no cure materia, and he watched the man in red walk away. Ignoring the taste of blood that was filling his mouth and slowly dripping to the floor in a pool around him, he moved to Hojo's side, checking that he was still alive. He would not try anything until he knew for certain that Cloud and Zack were safe from Hojo's reach.

Hojo stood and glared at Sephiroth, hitting him hard seeing the experiment had gone. "You did not stop him," he kicked him in his already injured stomach.

Sephiroth winced feeling more blood drip to the floor, "considering I am weaponless," he stood slowly, leaning against the wall for support, "I was at a disadvantage."

"No excuse," Hojo glared, hitting him hard again, "If you cannot handle such things, maybe your training and mako treatments should be revised to be more frequent."

Sephiroth glared at him, his eyes flashing darkly, "That will not be necessary," he bit out coldly.

Hojo gave him a dark smirk, "That will be for me to decide," He started toward the door, feeling Sephiroth's glare burn holes in his back, "Come on."

The elite sighed and slowly followed him back up the stairs and out of the mansion; then onward back to Midgar.

* * *

Zack milled around Sephiroth's apartment, wondering why his lover was taking so long, he hated to think what Hojo had wanted with him; it had interfered with his plans. He had a picnic set up on a hillside, overlooking the grassy planes away from Midgar. Didn't the guy deserve a break once in a while, after all he put into the company?! Zack threw himself into one of the comfy leather recliners and sank back, closing his eyes until he heard the door burst open.

"Hey, Seph," Zack sat up again and moved to him, faltering as he saw the blood covering his face and clothes, "What happened?" He asked, even more concerned than before.

"Just leave Zack," Sephiroth turned from him.

Zack blinked, "What?" he gave a confused look, "What's going on Seph?"

"It is over Zack," Sephiroth said, his voice turning cold, "Get out of here."

"Seph…"

"It is Sephiroth," The General corrected.

"What's going on Seph? Why are you suddenly being like this?" Zack asked, "What has Hojo said to you?" He guessed he pinned the real reason, the way the man before him tensed.

"I do not have to explain myself to you."

"The hell you don't," Zack glared at him, "You can't just say it's over and kick me out of here without a reason Seph."

Sephiroth sighed, "Very well, you want to know my reasons?"

"Yes," Zack nodded, folding his arms, watching the older man intently.

"Where to start," Sephiroth gave him a cold, cruel smirk, "I have too much work to do, you are always trying to find ways to distract me, most of which are senseless…"

"But you love it…" Zack interjected.

"Do I?" Sephiroth shot back, "Or do you just enjoy it too much to see that I am bored with it…I am bored with you."

Zack just stood there, his mouth hung open in shock as tears welled in his violet eyes, unwillingly showing how much his love's words were hurting him.

"I do not love you Zachary," Sephiroth continued, "but you have always been too blind and stupid to realise it, but I have had enough now. I no longer want or need you around. I am going to see about your demotion and, I will find a replacement for you, so I no longer have to suffer with your constant presence."

Zack stared at him, shocked and incredibly hurt, his voice was lost, unable to find a snappy response; he felt tears start to roll down his cheeks, not wanting to show it to the bastard in front of him, he turned and fled the room.

Sephiroth sank down into a chair heavily and closed his eyes tight, "I'm sorry Zack," he whispered, tears of his own, glided down his cheek at what he had done.

* * *

"What the hell have you done to him you bastard?" Zack yelled as he stormed into the Shinra labs, stopping in front of Hojo. The scientist merely glanced at him, pushing his glasses up.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to get here," The older man sighed, giving a vaguely irritated look, "He told me that he was breaking up with you, it took him too long to see sense if you ask me."

"Bastard," Zack surged forward to attack, but was sidestepped easily, and he felt something sharp in his side, he looked to see Hojo injecting him with a vile looking liquid.

"This will ensure that you cannot cause trouble for a while," he smirked, watching the other man crumple to the floor.

"What…?" Zack muttered, his eyes becoming glassy and unfocused.

"You remind me of a foolish young TURK I once knew; even after he was told to give up and not interfere, he didn't, he has been used as an experiment and mutilated since then, would be such a shame for the same fate to befall you, wouldn't it?" Hojo smirked, "Let me see why he took to you as he did," He heard a soft groan of protest from Zack as he undressed the incapacitated SOLDIER.

Zack was helpless, all he could do was watch as the older man kept touching his body, he tried to protest but all that came out was a pathetic groan and he felt his body start to numb, due to whatever Hojo had put in him; he hated where this was going, but could not fight the drug induced sleep that pulled him in.


End file.
